Chasing Death
by Tsubasa8
Summary: An influx of Hollows, all being sent to the underworld, and none to Soul Society. How could that be? X-over: Ballad of a Shinigami/Bleach/Death Note/Rin-ne/Shigofumi/Soul Eater/Zombie Loan


A/N: Boo.

Disclaimer: "Ballad of a Shinigami" is property of K-Ske Hasegawa, ASCII Media Works, Group TAC, etc.  
"Bleach" is property of Tite Kubo, Shueisha, Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Dentsu Inc., etc.  
"Death Note" is property of Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, Shueisha, Madhouse, Viz Media, etc.  
"Rin-ne" is property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Viz Media, etc.  
"Shigofumi" is property of Tomorou Yuzawa, Media Works, Bandai Visual, Genco, Bandai Enertainment, etc.  
"Soul Eater" is property of Atsushi Okubo, Square Enix, Bones, Yen Press, etc.  
"Zombie-Loan" is property of PEACH-PIT, Square Enix, Xebec M2, Yen Press, etc.

* * *

Chasing Death

"Why am I even here!?" a girl screeched as she ran from the crushing blow of a monster.

It was then sliced down the middle by a katana, and the creature disintegrated to reveal a boy with white and black hair. "That's right, Gopher! Keep making noise to attract more of these things so we can earn some more money!"

"Seriously, what are these things?" the girl cried, looking from one masked face to another. "There's no way they're zombies!"

"Yuuta told us to come here," the third member of their team stated, "and these are the only questionable beings we've encountered so far."

"As long as we're making money I don't care what they are!" the other boy wildly declared with glee, jumping up to slash his blade across the face of another white mask.

"Fine, but…" She looked to the boy with dark hair. "Have you noticed, Shito-kun? It's only you who's been guiding these souls to the other side."

He shot another bullet from his revolver into a mask. "Of course I've noticed Akatsuki hasn't been doing anything.

"Hey! That's not what she meant!" Chika indignantly shouted over the enemies' howls.

Ignoring the retort, Shito petulantly said, "For some reason, all these souls belong in Hell."

- - -

"The signal disappeared."

"What? Again!?" The boy stopped running and let the girl on his back down. "I'm tired of this! I don't think Ishida would be doing this a second time, but…"

The girl clicked a few buttons on the cell phone in her hand. Then it beeped, and she saw more dots lighting up the screen. "They're appearing just as quickly as they disappear… why?" She looked up at the boy in front of her. "Let's hurry and find one close by."

"Yeah, alright."

- - -

"A cat with wings, huh?"

"Hey, don't touch!" The black cat turned its head, and the bell around its neck rang gently. "Momo, let's go. We're not needed."

The girl he was addressing replied, "In a moment, Daniel." She returned her gaze to a boy with red hair, and dressed in a haori with a track suit underneath. "It was nice of you to offer to help that girl go to the other side."

He folded his arms and gestured toward the girl observing Daniel. "Mamiya Sakura was the one who brought me here. The girl seems fine but I'm a bit concerned about her waiting for this orange-haired guy."

Momo nodded. "Finding a boy with orange hair should be easy enough."

The boy glanced at her. "Like finding a little girl with white hair?" he said in reference to her appearance. "You're not here because of my grandmother, are you?"

She shook her head. "I didn't even know there were people who were part shinigami."

He frowned and redirected his gaze to the sky – where he saw a giant creature donning a white mask about to barrel down on them. "Watch out!" He gathered the others and out them out of harms way, just as the creature crashed into the concrete.

Sakura peered back to see dust billowing around the impact site. "Rokudo-kun, what's going on?"

Rinne stood, keeping a careful watch over the area. "I think… it's a Hollow. I've never seen one before but I've heard of them. Sometimes when human souls are tainted they become these masked beings who feast on other souls."

"So it's a form of a corrupt soul…" Sakura tried to make out the Hollow, but it wasn't difficult. Soon it was coming toward them, ready to strike again.

"This is too much!" Daniel yelped, spinning in mid-air to avoid being stuck. "Momo, let's get out of here! This kind of stuff isn't in our jurisdiction!"

Momo was only half-listening. She was looking at the Hollow, feeling sympathy for it. "This soul is like this because of its pain…"

"Momo!" Daniel shook one of her shoulders with his paws. "This isn't the time for that! We're in danger!"

"Mamiya Sakura!" Rinne quickly held a hand out to her. "¥500! Now!"

The schoolgirl hurriedly rummaged for the appropriate coin in her wallet and handed it to him.

Rinne tossed it, and in its place shone a katana which he swiftly caught from the air. "Here goes!" He charged toward the Hollow, side-stepped a massive arm aiming to attack him, then leapt and brought the blade straight down its head. The mask cracked, and a sharp stream of light shot up through the air, and exploded into a colossal doorway. On either side of the door's entrance protruded a skeleton, from head to just below the ribcage. A bony hand each rested on the opening, and they pulled it wide.

Suddenly a massive blade struck through the Hollow, the hand gripping the handle giant-like and tattooed. Beyond the gateway the group saw a pair of malevolent eyes. They heard a booming laugh, a scream, and the Hollow was pulled into the gate. The doors shut fast and then the great, dark gate cracked to pieces until there was nothing left of it.

"Wha… What was that?" Sakura said when she found her voice.

Rinne frowned and unclasped his hand holding the katana. It disappeared. "Gates to the underworld. That soul must have committed a grave sin in life."

"… So that's why that soul became that way," Momo mused.

"See?" Daniel snapped. "Not everyone is worth crying over."

Momo didn't quite share her familiar's opinion.

"Come on…" Sakura stepped toward them. "You don't have to put it like that."

Daniel pouted. 'Still… are those things what we came here for?'

- - -

In a place called Death City, in what is known as Death Weapon Meister Academy, a tall dark figure wearing a skull mask observed the goings-on in Japan through his reflective glass.

"Hmm… looks like that part of the problem is being taken care of," he said in a playful tone. "Well, sending students would have made their goals easier, but… the tickets would cost too much! Hahahaha…!"

He peered back into the mirror. "That Ryuk… giving something like that to a guy like him…"

- - -

"Hey! Who are guys?"

Chika turned around to the source of the voice. "Haah? We're part of Z-Loan." He gave the guy in front of him a once over. "What's with the getup?"

"I – wait, you can see me?"

"Yeah, why?"

The girl who had arrived with this unfamiliar boy spoke up. "You two." She was referring to the pair of boys. "Your chains of fate are broken."

"_What?_" Chika made a face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Her expression remained stern. "You're both dead, yet you have physical bodies. What are you?"

Shito's brow furrowed. "Do you have shinigami eyes like Kita-san?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I don't know about 'shinigami eyes,' but I, Kuchiki Rukia, am a shinigami."

"Huhh? You, a shinigami?" scoffed Chika. "You look nothin' like one!"

"Well," she pointed at the boy beside her, "this is what we usually wear."

"He's a shinigami too?" Chika disbelievingly looked at him again.

"Ichigo's merely filling in for me," Rukia replied.

"Oh yeah?" Chika's expression was sardonic. "Well he's not doing a very good job. We've been doing all the work around here. Not that I mind if I get money out of it."

"What was that!?" Ichigo brandished a fist at him. "You're the ones who have been knocking out all these Hollows before I can get to them, aren't you?"

"Whatever. If more shinigami were like you it'd make us zombies' lives much easier."

"Eh –" Ichigo faltered. "Wait, did you say… zombies? Like in the movies?"

Chika and Shito's expression darkened. "Don't compare us to those creatures," Shito said with controlled vehemence.

"Ah, Shito-kun and Chika-kun aren't like that at all!" She saw Ichigo and Rukia look her way, and she quickly introduced herself. "Oh, I'm Kita Michiru!"

Ichigo tilted his head forward. "… Are you a zombie too?"

"Er, no, I just help them with their work. I can find other zombies, but… but today we found something else instead."

"The Hollows," Rukia supplied. "You've been fighting masked beings, correct?"

"Yeah, they've all had masks," Chika replied. "And they've all bent sent to Hell."

Rukia's eyes widened. "What? _All_ of them?"

"That's not right, is it?" Shito crossed his arms. "Even if corrupted, not all souls should be deserving of Hell. The probability of that scenario is unlikely."

Chika rested his katana on his shoulder. "Yeah, but here we are."

"Something's off…" Rukia thoughtfully lifted a hand to her chin. "The only explanation would be if someone is tampering with these deaths."

"Tampering with death? Like someone's intentionally killing these people?" Ichigo couldn't believe it.

The idea of it caused Michiru to gasp. "But, who would be capable of such a thing?"

- - -

"I have a letter for L." She pointed her gun at the officers in the room. As usual, it wasn't difficult to locate the recipient; but the security around the area was tight.

"W-Who are you?" the youngest member of the team shakily asked.

"I'm a mail carrier," she monotonously answered.

The jewel set into the staff in her other hand began to blink and a voice came out from it. "Not just any mail carrier! Anyway, we have… a delivery!"

"Wha – did that staff just speak??" The agents in the room confusedly blinked.

"I'm not a staff, I'm a person!" the staff crossly retorted. "Fumika, tell them!"

"Kanaka, we have a letter to deliver," the young girl replied. She cast her gaze around the room until it settled on a person with messy dark hair, hunched over in his chair with his feet brought up on the seat.

His expression was flat, but inwardly he was rather intrigued by the pair's appearance. "You have a letter for me?"

Fumika walked towards him, to the others' alarm, but L silenced them with a lift of his hand. The staff stood on its own as she reached into her bag, extracted a letter, and offered it to him. Written on the envelope was a simple 'L,' but the hand seemed familiar. "This shigofumi is for L. The sender is Misora Naomi."

"What?" the eldest of the agents said. "She left a letter for L? Did she know she was going to die?"

"Of course she didn't know," the staff named Kanaka rebuked. "If that were the case there may not have been a need for this letter. She wrote it after she died."

"That's impossible!" The officers began to chatter over the absurdity of this occurrence.

Kanaka would have rolled her eyes if she had any. "Here we go again…"

Fumika remained focused on her recipient. "I'm here to ensure this gets to you. It's your choice if you decide not to open it."

L gazed at her with his usual calm, observant manner. Then, he raised a hand to accept the letter. "Thank you for the delivery. I'm sure if Misora Naomi is writing from the dead, she has something very important to say."

* * *


End file.
